


Golden Dreams Were Shiny Days

by DK_05



Series: And They Were Theater Kids... [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Angst, Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, M/M, No Smut, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Sokka/Suki (Avatar), but here we are, like I didn't mean to get this invested
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:13:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28854885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DK_05/pseuds/DK_05
Summary: “Zuko could already feel the peering eyes. Is that Azula’s brother? How did he get that scar? Didn’t he get kicked out of the last three schools he attended? Isn’t he dangerous?He tried to block out everyone, and found a small corner in the courtyard next to a dirty fountain that no longer ran, and sat down.”Zuko attends a new school and befriends a group of misfit theater kids. Now, befriending theater kids in the first place is dangerous, but befriending MISFIT theater kids? That's gonna lead to some troubling fun.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka & Suki (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: And They Were Theater Kids... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2169099
Comments: 19
Kudos: 76





	1. Azula's Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, look, it's my super uncreative theater kid AU! But like I'm already outlined to episode 38 so I guess there's no backing out now! This is my first fan fcition I've ever posted so I am sorry if it's a fucking mess but whatever. I'll update the tags as I go along, but the ships I have in there will be permanent. I'll try to give each ship equal attention. 
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dk-is-gay)
> 
> [My Beta's Account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeiliebby/pseuds/taeiliebby)

Zuko surveyed his new school as he walked in, lagging behind his sister. He couldn't believe that only one month into his junior year he had to switch schools again. He guessed it made sense, why send your kids to two different schools? The only reason he hadn’t gone to this school in the first place is they wouldn’t take him, that is until his sister started attending. Azula had this power over people he would never understand.

Azula met up with two of her friends: Ty Lee and Mai. Azula was wearing a red shirt with a peter pan collar and a black skirt, Ty Lee was wearing a pink crop top with some jeans, and Mai was wearing a simple black and red striped sweatshirt with some black leggings. Azula waved bye to her brother and walked off with her friends, leaving him by himself in a totally new environment. Thanks, Azula.

Zuko could already feel the peering eyes. Is that Azula’s brother? How did he get that scar? Didn’t he get kicked out of the last three schools he attended? Isn’t he dangerous? 

He tried to block out everyone, and found a small corner in the courtyard next to a dirty, fountain that no longer ran and sat down. He started reading up on the syllabi of his classes, before getting frustrated with his Japanese 1 syllabus. He sighed and looked away to survey the courtyard. Nothing was too interesting until a guy, around his age, took off after a smaller girl. The guy had dark skin, wore his hair in a small ponytail, and was quite tall and lanky, wearing a blue t-shirt with shorts. The girl was dressed in a nice, almost too formal dress and wore a green headband, but weirdly enough had knee high socks with no shoes on and was seemingly blind, her eyes completely white against her messy black hair and pale skin. Zuko found the fact that this blind girl, probably a freshman, was winning against a decently athletic guy quite funny. He cracked a small smile before going back to looking over his schedule.

Zuko knew his schedule was picked out for him by his dad. Mostly for the fact that it was overwhelming. He had seven classes a day, as did everyone else. He had all of his core classes next to each other, and his 3 extracurriculars were the required study hall, theater, and japanese. He knew he had to learn japanese if he ever wanted to be in the family business, and his dad is the ambassador to Japan. His first class of the day was science, followed by math, history, english, and japanese. His last two classes were study hall and drama. Drama was probably the class he was least excited for. Sure, he liked theater a lot, something he got from his mother, but sadly so did Azula. And if he knew Azula, she’d probably have everyone at her feet in there. Her hatred for his sister mixed with his social anxiety led to him really wishing the school would kick him out immediately. But sadly, he had to carry on, for if he gets kicked out again, he would have to be homeschooled. He sighed as the bell for the first period went off and got up to walk to class.

Aang was fidgeting with his phone, trying to get some service. “Aang, sit down, you’re going to get in trouble for moving around during attendance.” Katara whispered at him. He’d already had his name called and didn’t really care, but the teachers, Ms. Lo and Ms. Li, already had it out for them. 

Aang whispered back to her, “I need to check my grades.” Slowly tip toeing to the edge of class. 

“Aang…”

“I just need-”

“Aang!” Katara yelled that a little too loudly, as the teachers turned to face the group, laid across the two couches. 

“Got something to share-” Ms Lo started.

“With the whole class?” Ms Li ended her twin sister’s sentence.

“N-no ma’am. Just hanging around, chilling.” Katara said nervously, fiddling with a loose strand of hair. It was visible that she was super embarrassed, and could hear her brother stifling a laugh.

“And you, young man?” Ms Li looked Aang dead in the eye as he cracked his classic crooked smile.

“Sit down, before you get in trouble.” Ms. Lo said, as Aang shrank down to sit next to Katara. They continued to call out names, and eventually it got to a new student, a junior, who grabbed everyone’s attention.

“Oh, a new student.” Ms Li started.

“And a legacy student” Ms Lo continued the sentence.

“The brother of our greatest student, Azula.” They said together. Everyone looked over to the boy with a large scar down the left side of his face. He flipped up the hood of his hoodie and retreated into himself. 

“Great, another Azula.” Sokka said unenthusiastically. 

“He doesn’t seem bad, just lonely and sad.” Aang said, already concocting a scheme to befriend the boy.

“I don’t know, I heard that he was kicked out of his last three schools.” Katara said.

“Well I think that’s pretty sick. It takes a lot of work to get kicked out of one school, not to mention three!” Toph said, feeling the floor up with her now shoeless feet.

“Well it seems we’re at a crossroads. Me and Toph think we should befriend the boy, and the Debbie Downers over here think we shouldn’t. Suki, what do you think?”

The girl with chestnut hair and multi-colored eyes looked between the 4 people and just shrugged. “I’m honestly completely indifferent on this. I mean I guess it wouldn’t hurt if Aang were to go talk to him, it’s not like he is making a shiv under the table that he’s planning on stabbing people with.” 

“He might be!” Sokka, ever the widely superstitious and dramatic teen, accused the boy off. 

“So it's decided, I’m going to talk to him!” Aang happily hopped up and over to the older boy.

“Time to go write his eulogy.” Sokka said in a fake solemn tone .

Zuko felt tears of embarrassment burning in his eyes. He knew that his sister had told the teachers to do that to purposely make him feel uncomfortable. He knew everyone stared at him and started gossiping. He sank into his seat and flipped his hood up, just wishing this day would end sooner. He soon enough heard a person coming up to where he was sitting, most likely to mock or berate him. 

He heard a voice, high pitched but definitely male. “Hi, you’re new here right?” Zuko didn’t bother to look up or answer that, but the boy continued. “Are you okay?” 

Hoping to shake off the boy, he mumbled, “I’m never okay.”

“Well that seems like an over exaggeration.” 

Zuko finally looked up at the bald kid who was wearing an orange jacket over a white shirt and covered in arrow tattoos. He immediately pointed to the giant scar covering the left side of his face. “No, it's not an exaggeration.”

“Oh I have some scars too!” The boy said, quickly ripping off one of his shoes to show the burnt skin on the bottom of the foot, much to Zuko’s shock. “I also have one on my back and on the other foot.”

“I’m sorry.” Zuko said, feeling extremely guilty.

“It's fine, mine are pretty easy to cover up, unlike yours.” The boy says, slipping back on his shoe. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Zuko wondered how a boy could live with that and still be so cheery before the boy talked again. “I’m Aang by the way!”

Zuko said without a second thought, “I’m Zuko.” He then regretted saying it, thinking that he should’ve just used a pseudonym, though it wouldn’t have held up very long.

“You want to come hang out with my friends?” Aang gestured over to a little living space with two couches and a small table with a plastic chair. He noticed the boy from earlier was sitting at the table with his legs on it, and the girl from earlier once again wearing no shoes and laying on the floor. He also saw who he presumed to be the sister of the boy from before sitting on a couch in a nice blue sundress talking to another girl on the other couch, who was wearing a white crop top with green shorts. 

Zuko considered his options, and seeing that his sister’s glare was distracted by talking to a small group of kids, and also having the thought of disrespecting Aang in his mind, he decided to humor the freshman. “Sure.”

Aang was so excited he practically leaped across the table and grabbed Zuko’s arm, pulling him towards the friend group. 

Sokka was doing his AP Stat homework as he looked over and saw Aang bringing over the teen with the scar down his face. A groan came out of his mouth as he decided that they were doomed by Aang’s own stupidity. 

“Guys, this is Zuko!” Aang introduced him to the group. Zuko gave a shy wave,looking like he didn’t want to be there. How exactly Aang had managed to get this extremely emo boy to actually join him, despite him being the exact opposite of an emo (ome?) was quite the feat. But this guy was Azula’s sister, for spirits sake! 

“Oh, Zuko, this is Katara, Toph, Suki, and Sokka!” Aang said, gesturing towards his friends as he said their names.

“Suki, what does he look like?” Toph said, pulling at a string from her sleeve.

“Well, you remember what I said Azula looks like?” Toph nodded. “Well he looks like that but masculine, with a 2000’s scene kid haircut, no evil glint in his eye, and-” Suki went silent, gesturing towards her left side of her face, trying to think of the best way to describe the scar. Sokka took this as an opportunity to stave this villain off.

“He has a giant scar on the left side of his face Toph.” The blind girl’s face lit up at this, and the group's talking about his appearance obviously struck a bad chord with the boy.

“It’s okay, Zuko, he’s just a bit protective because he thinks your planning our murder. But I trust you won’t!” Aang said in his usual cheery attitude that threw Sokka off, causing him to fall out of the chair he’d been sitting in. Chuckles were spread throughout the group, used to Sokka’s dumbassery. He felt his ears get hot with embarrassment as he recollected himself. 

“I’m just being cautious, given his heritage.” Sokka replied back, clearly being too stubborn to back off, though by the look on Zuko’s face he disliked his family as much as the rest of the group did.

“Wow, way to be insensitive. Would Yue agree with this?”

“Too soon, Aang, too soon…”

“It's been 2 years!”

Katara finally interjected, speaking more cautiously than the two boys. “Aang, I agree with Sokka. I mean, just given all of the things we know about him, it doesn’t sound wise to make friends with him.”

“That’s the best part about befriending him!” Toph said, sitting up, “I mean he is the coolest person at this spirits forsaken school and you want to throw him away because his sister sucks ass?!” 

“Toph, why are you always so hell bent on getting into trouble?” Katara said, worry peeking through the angry tone of her voice.

“Because I’m blind and can get out of anything with some acting. Why do you think I take theater?” Toph refuted

“Toph, your reason for taking theater is never clear.” Suki chimed in, before quickly turning to Sokka, who had a statement burning at his lips. “I am still indifferent to this though!” Bickering between the group of teens continued, until Sokka noticed that the boy had left. 

“Uh guys, I think we succeeded in scaring the guy off.” Sokka said, pride clearly shining through.

Suki looked down at her watch. “Yeah, anyway it’s close to the end of the period, Toph, you gotta get up.” The small girl groaned before getting back to her feet, grabbing her stuff and putting her shoes back on. She and Suki walked out of class, leaving Aang, Katara, and Sokka to their own devices. 

Sokka went to go clean up the desk he’d been sitting at. There was an air of tension between the three teens, and from Aang’s expression he wasn’t going to give up befriending the boy. Tui damn it. 

The bell rang and Katara hastily suggested going to Jersey Mikes after school, to which the two boys had agreed. 

Aang wasn’t a typically angry kid. He almost never even said minor curses, and usually just used passive-aggressiveness against those who oppose them. Somehow, Aang immediately felt a connection with Zuko, he had no idea why. So now he just had to convince the other two teenagers to stop scaring the guy off. 

“Aang, why are you so hell bent on doing stuff that you shouldn’t be doing?” Sokka asked, with clear frustration. 

“Come on Sokka, you don’t even know the guy!” Aang said, trying to mask his anger.

“And neither do you!”

“Aang, I know you mean well, but this guy seems like trouble, and we really don’t want you getting hurt.” Katara tried sympathetically, placing her hand on Aang’s shoulder, causing him to blush.

Aang pushed his crush aside, however, to stick up for Zuko. “I’m not 11 anymore Katara. I can handle myself and I know that all this guy needs is a supportive friend!”

“Heh, that sure sounds like something an 11 year old would say…” Sokka muttered before his sister elbowed him in the rib cage, causing him to yelp from pain.

The three teens walked in relative silence until reaching a Jersey Mikes. The owner welcomed them with a big smile.

“Hey, my three favorite amigos!” said a burly man with long hair and a beard, wearing a hawaiian shirt.

“Hey Kuruk!” Sokka said back to the owner.

“The usual?”

“You know it, buddy.” Sokka gave him finger guns.

“And how about you two?” Kuruk said to Katara and Aang.

“I’ll have some chips.” Katara said, picking out a bag of plain sun chips.

“I’ll have a bowl of olives.” Aang replied, going to lay his head down on a table.

“Oo, treating yourself today, aren’t you?” Kuruk says, making Sokka’s monstrosity of a sandwich. 

“I need some energy today Kuruk, these two are stopping me on a very important mission!” Aang said, shooting a glance at Katara and Sokka.

“And what is this very important mission of yours?”

“To befriend the new guy in school!”

“That doesn’t sound too bad…”

“Yeah, except that this ‘new guy’ got kicked out of his last three schools and is the brother of the worst person alive.” Sokka complained.

“Well I don’t think we should judge people based on their appearances. Don’t judge a book by its cover!”

“Exactly!” Aang cried, feeling validated.

“Well it doesn’t apply when the cover is tattered and has very bad reviews online.” Katara replied.

“Well maybe that book is just a misunderstood hidden gem, like… Megamind!” Aang decided to try and get Sokka on his side by using the boy’s affinity for the underrated flick to his advantage.

“Well… Megamind isn’t a book, it's a movie!” Sokka tried to refute but he knew he was losing this argument.

“Oo, yeah Aang’s got you in a corner there. Here’s your sub though, and your bowl of olives!” Kuruk said, placing the two kids orders down. They paid and ate their snacks in silence, likely plotting against each other. But Aang had the confidence needed to win this argument. He was going to befriend Zuko, because that’s the kind of person Aang was.

Zuko had gotten into the sleek black car with his sister, and sat there in silence for a few minutes before Azula started berating him with questions. 

“How was your first day of school?” She asked him.

“Good, I guess…” Zuko mumbled.

“It’s just like you to have gotten kicked out of school within the first two weeks.” Azula got a small grunt in response to that and continued on. “I saw you hanging out with those losers in the Theater. You really shouldn’t unless you want to destroy your popularity. Which will bring me down a few ranks, though not for long of course. But that group are a bunch of insufferable nitwits. Especially Katara, ooh that girl makes my skin crawl, and that Toph girl…” Zuko had pretty much muted out his sister at this point. He grabbed his sketchbook and turned to a page with a bunch of little tally marks. He had started it at the beginning of 9th grade, counting down the days until he finally can leave this hell hole. He added one more tally mark, took a deep breath and closed his eyes, eagerly waiting to get home and lock himself in his room for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Just gonna leave a few little tidbits. 
> 
> First, this is in fact an Americanized Modern AU. It does take place in Florida(specifically Southern Florida since Northern and Central Florida are basically different states) because, surprise surprise, I live in Florida! And high school theater in Florida tends to be better than it should be. This is separate from the Floridaverse AU, however, though that’s one of my favorites. It will also lift some ideas from other AUs that I think will fit.  
> I’m also a theater kid! So some of these shenanigans will be based on real life, some just random funny situations I think up. 
> 
> This will be mostly fluff and humor, though there is also going to be a lot of angst because I accidentally gave a crack! fic plot. That’s all I really have to share for now, toodles! Subscribe if you want notifications for the next parts. And if you enjoyed, leave kudos since that’s how I feed my pet band kid. Thanks for reading loves!
> 
> -DK


	2. How Not To Do Espionage: Brought To You By Sokka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tui damn it, Sokka realized he was accidentally giving a motivational speech to his peer. Curse his great leadership capabilities!” 
> 
> Aang is persistent in his quest to befriend Zuko, but Sokka and Katara are persistent in their attempts to stop him. Well, try to stop them, Sokka's not the best at threatening people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, a new part! Yeah, gonna post it now because the Drama program I'm currently in is putting our (online) show on tonight and it's going to be atrocious and I can't wait! Plus I'm going to confess to my crush either tonight or tomorrow. So yeah that's fun.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dk-is-gay)
> 
> [My Beta's Account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeiliebby/pseuds/taeiliebby)

Aang walked into the school, exerting his overconfidence. He was going to make a new friend today, whether anyone liked it or not. He walked into school and - Zuko wasn’t there yet. The boy took a sigh and sat on a table, controlling his breath in order to calm himself down. 

“Hey twinkletoes!” Toph yelled in his ear, causing him to almost fall off the table. “You gonna get that guy to join us today?” 

“Uh yeah, once he gets here.”

“Let me help. First, you gotta look tough. Puff out your chest, and walk like you're about to beat up the guy.” Said the short 14 year old girl in a cutesy outfit that makes her look harmless, despite the fact she could probably beat half of the school in a battle.

“I’m just going to be genuine, it worked the first time,” he shrugged, “before Katara and Sokka ruined it…”

“Oof, trouble in paradise with your crushy?” 

“What, I don’t have a crush on Katara!”

“You're in denial, I understand. Stop it though and man up.”

Luckily, just as Aang was getting uncomfortable with the blind girl’s prying, Zuko appeared. He gave a sigh of relief. “Finally, time to go gain a new friend!” Aang yelled as he skipped over to where Zuko was sitting.

“Wow, leaving a blind girl to fend for herself, real mature Aang!” The girl yelled after him teasingly.

Aang sat down in front of Zuko, who looked like he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. “Hey, sorry about my friends. I promise, they’re just really cautious. Also, y’know, your sister hates them and they hate her.” 

“It’s fine. I’m used to being a loner anyway.” Zuko said. This, of course, hurt Aang, ever the caring and friendly kid. 

“No one deserves to be alone!” 

“Well you found the one person who above all else does, and you decided to try and become his friend.” 

“I don’t think you deserve it.”

“My last ‘friendship’ didn’t end well. It ended with me getting expelled for a second time.”

“Well maybe that friend just didn’t care enough.”

“Caring is what got me expelled a third time.” As he said that, Aang noticed a bruise on his left arm and a healing split lip. 

“Well, maybe it's just bad luck.”

“No, it’s because I’m a failure.” Zuko retorted.

“That’s a bit harsh on yourself-”

“Well you try to be in my position and you would hate yourself too!”

“This isn’t going well. Let's start over by breaking the ice. What’s your favorite type of penguin?” The older boy got up and left, leaving Aang to rethink his strategy. 

“Oh, so I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Sokka asked snarkily as Aang went back to his friends.

“I’ve got to rethink my strategy. I’ve got to stray away from depressing topics, but keep it out of kiddie stuff. Hmm…” The boy went deep in thought, trying to think of how to approach the older boy.

Sokka kept a close eye on Zuko all throughout AP Stats, trying to catch him in the act of being evil or something… honestly he was just bored. Despite being in 4 different clubs and taking 4 APs, he was thoroughly bored by life. So, might as well help Aang, who he considered to be like his little brother, from making a grave mistake.

After class he decided to talk to Zuko, despite the general lack of interest coming from him. “Hey, could you maybe stay away from Aang? Kid’s way too nice and you seem a bit…”

“Trust me, I don’t want freshmen bothering me either. I just want to be alone and count down the days until liberation.”

“Liberation?”

“When I finally can move away from my wretched family.” Sokka could understand moving away, he would too if he had a sister like Azula.

“So you’d rather be alone and sad than be sad with friends?”

“As if any friend I could make could ever feel sympathy for me.” Sokka was starting to get the ‘avoid depressing topics’ comment from earlier.

“Well, you seem to have a really bad self image. And I get that, but friends can turn that bad into good. And it’s better to live your life sad together than sad alone…” Tui damn it, Sokka realized he was accidentally giving a motivational speech to his peer. Curse his great leadership capabilities!

“Weren’t you trying to dissuade me?” Zuko said, and Sokka spotted a slight upturn on his lips.

“I don’t know. I had a point but it spiraled out of control. But like, you can’t spend your high school counting down the days until college, because soon enough you’ll be counting down the days to everything, including your death, and that's no way to live life. Now that I gave you this accidental pep talk, I’m going to excuse myself.” Sokka ran off to the bathroom to curse himself out, for not only failing at his task, but accidentally helping the guy he dislikes. Well, at least he guessed he disliked.

Zuko sat in his AP US History class confused by the boy's words. They started out with anger behind them, but turned to… pity? Zuko really hated being pitied, but that exchange was pretty uplifting, if confusing. Maybe he should befriend Aang and his ragtag group. It would probably make Azula mad. He thought, with both fear and amusement. While his sister was quite scary, the thought of going against her filled him with excitement. And dread. And confusion. Spirits, sometimes he wishes he could be an emotionless void, going through the waves with no cares in the world. He’s already seldom happy as it is, but to relieve his other emotions would be incredible.

He realized that he’d pretty much spaced out for the entirety of that class, he realized it was already lunch time. Great. He spent an entire class considering ridding himself of all emotions because a boy told him to get a life. At least it’s lunch, so he can get even more lost in thought. Well he would’ve if Aang didn’t try and talk to him again.

“Hey, what are you having for lunch?” He sat across from Zuko. 

Zuko considered giving him a solemn answer like, My sorrows, but Sokka’s words were still ringing in his head. “A sandwich and some chips.” Agni damn it, he looked over at Aang, who looked happy to be able to make normal small talk with the older boy.

“Sweet, I’m just having a salad.” Aang said, happily opening the salad, and continuing the menial small talk. “How has your day been?”

“Meh, mostly boring.” He considered telling the boy about his encounter with Sokka, but decided not to. “Yours?” Aang gave a big smile, and started talking about every little detail in his life.

Aang jumped into Theater with a silly grin on his face. Despite what the naysayers (Sokka and Katara) said, he managed to make successful small talk with Zuko and it was on its way to a blossoming friendship.

“Hey Katara, guess what?” He smugly sat down next to the older girl to brag, given that she was the only one of his friends currently present.

“What?” Katara replied back, knowing it wasn’t going to be good based on his tone of voice.

“I managed to make small talk with Zuko. And he’s really not dangerous like you think he is. I mean I don’t think people with ducks as their favorite animal can be dangerous.”

“Wow, you really did a deep dive into his psyche by making small talk about ducks.” Katara said sarcastically.

“It’s better than earlier. Maybe if you and Sokka weren’t so mean to him then he wouldn’t be so reluctant.” 

Aang and Katara sat there in silence as everyone else filed in.

“So how did your escapades into gaining another friend go?” Suki asked, clearly just wanting to cease the tense silence between Aang and Katara.

“It was successful, not that Katara would pay any mind to that.” He answered in the passive aggressive tone he was infamous for. 

“Me and my sister have very strong instincts, it's in our blood, and those instincts are saying it's an awful idea to befriend that guy.” Sokka added in, trying to make up for his complete failure earlier in the day, which he was planning on telling Katara about later. 

“Sokka, this is why I hate agreeing with you.” Katara said, exasperated from the two boys. 

Katara hated when they got like this. Aang was her best friend and Sokka was her brother, but Spirits were they so annoying sometimes. Ms Lo and Ms Li were currently calling attention, and Katara tried to keep her fueling rage under wraps. Despite the girl’s usually calm and nurturing appearance, she had an extremely short fuse.

After the attendance was done being called, Zuko had actually come over there on his own accord, not being dragged over by Aang this time. Though at first he was a bit awkward, eventually he warmed up and was having a pleasant conversation with Aang, then Toph and Suki joined in. Katara was seething with rage. Pure, unbridled rage. She sank into the seat cushions, her hair sticking up on the back on the couch. 

“Ah, little sister, you try to control Aang’s actions through your words, but Aang’s too free spirited for words.” Sokka begins to lament, making Katara roll her eyes. “Which is why, in order to take down the beast, you must gain it’s trust.”

“This sounds like a hairbrained scheme that will go south in a week.” She looked, exhausted at her brother

“It's your only chance, I’ll tell you more about it later, if you shake my hand.” He extended his hand.

“Do you have a buzzer on it?”

“What? No, why would I do that to my own sister!”

“Ugh, I’m shaking your other hand, since you're ambidextrous so it doesn’t really matter.” She shook his hand, and still got a buzz.

“Aha, you didn’t expect me to have two buzzers!” Sokka slipped down the sleeves of his blue hoodie to reveal two buzzers. Katara groaned, she was so sick of today.

“I’m not in the mood, Sokka.” She said, sinking further into the couch.

“Fine, but later I will tell you my plan.” Sokka slipped away, and Katara could already feel a sense of dread for agreeing to a Sokka plan.

Zuko doesn’t often make friends. He hadn’t had a friend in one and a half years. And yet, among the chatter of Aang and the two girls, he felt something he hadn’t felt in awhile. 

He’d closed himself off for one and a half years, and thought he could for two more. Of course, destiny in the body of a 14 year old child came knocking and threw Zuko off his rhythm. Now Zuko just had to figure out whether it’s for the better or for the worse.

He’s not talking better or worse for himself. He’s talking for the better or for the worse of everyone surrounding him, given he often dragged people down with him as he declined.

Katara had no after school activities, so she went home. She did her homework and chores, but even then she could feel her boredom. Sokka had poetry afterschool, Aang had band, Suki had soccer and lacrosse, and Toph had tutoring, leaving Katara alone. She really didn’t like overexerting herself, so she was only in drama and sometimes helped out with teaching kids how to swim at the local swimming lesson place or working at the local nursing home. 

She grabbed her headphones and turned on her musical playlist, and sat there, scrolling through Instagram until her brother (more like bother, heh) came bursting into their shared bedroom, talking some nonsense about how he beat the teacher in a haiku off and impressed all the girls - which she felt was a bit of a of a stretch. He sat down on the bottom bed and started on his homework. She looked around their shared room. It was somewhat small, they had two adjacent white dressers, a desk with a computer, and their semi bunk bed. Only semi, because it’s actually one of those beds that are just really high up and they just pushed a double bed under it. While most siblings would hate to share a room, there’s a comfort, both teens find, in having their sibling close.

She took off her headphones and started casual conversation. “So, I’m guessing poetry club went well?”

“No, I got kicked out.” Sokka responded, nonchalantly.

“Wh-what?! How?! It's poetry club!” Katara said, a look of shock on her face.

“Apparently I did a haiku wrong and they kicked me out. Real sticklers for the rules. I was only using it to flirt with girls anyway.” Sokka was now down another club. He had probably been in every club at school at this point. 

“Wow, you are unbelievable.” 

“What did I do wrong this time?! At least I didn’t quit all but one club after freshman year.”

“Ugh, you know why I did that Sokka, why did you have to bring it up!” 

“Sorry, I just worry about you sometimes.” 

Katara elected to ignore that last comment, instead changing the subject. “So, what’s your Sokka plan to take down Zuko?”

“To befriend him, find out his motives, weaknesses, and plans, black mail him-”

“Blackmailing is illegal, Sokka.”

“Fine. Expose him immediately, since that’s not illegal.” Sokka says, a little disappointed. “But, maybe we could blackmail him in a way-”

“No”

“Fine, no illegal activity,” An evil smile crept up his face. “For now.”

“For never!” The two teens talked (and argued) until their father came home and checked in on them.

“Hey kids, planning murder?” He jokingly said, peering into their room.

“Yes.” Both of them responded, though their genuinity was vague.

“Good luck then!” Hakoda walked into the kitchen to start dinner, and the two siblings decided to shuffle out of their rooms to talk with their dad. “Whose murder are weplanning?”

“There’s this new guy in class and Aang wants to make friends with him but he’s probably not good so we’re trying to stop it.” Sokka explained.

“I also might murder Sokka while we’re at it, haven’t decided yet.” Katara added.

“Hey, unfair, I haven’t even told you the part I deserved to be murdered over!”

“Then tell me.”

“Later.”

“Tui damn it Sokka, if you screwed up the plan already I’m going to scream.”

“Language Katara.” Hakoda said, continuing on working on their dinner.

“I’ll tell you later.” Sokka says with a big grin on his face.

Later hath come, and Sokka and Katara had met in their room, showered, fed, and ready for bed. Sokka wore Star Wars pajama bottoms with a blue band shirt, and Katara wore a baby blue nightgown. They sat on Sokka’s double bed, lights off, being illuminated by their phones.

“So, how did you fuck up the plan before you even started it?” Katara asked, ever the skeptic.

“I didn’t fuck up this plan, I fucked my previous plan, which led me to create this plan.” Katara raised an eyebrow at him. “I accidentally went up to him after AP Stats and was trying to tell him off of befriending Aang but might’ve accidentally encouraged it?”

“So you gave the guy you are trying to sabotage a motivational speech..?”

“Yep.” 

“This plan is going to go awry so quickly…” She said under her breath, hoping Sokka wouldn’t detect it. “Well, I’m going to sleep now. Good luck.” She climbed up onto her bed, snuggling under her light quilt Gran Gran gave her and whisking off into her dreams, whether those be bad or good. 

Zuko stared up at his ceiling, contemplating life. He couldn’t sleep that night, like most nights. He checked his phone. 2 AM. He grabbed his airpod and stuck it in his ear. He still had the other one, but it’s kinda useless when you can barely hear through that ear. He usually put on musicals this late at night, since his brain was normally too tired for his usual emo crap.

He put on Wicked, since that's one musical you don’t have to think about because if you do it ruins the whole experience. He laid there, lost in thought. As he listened to it, he remembered a vague memory of when his sister did it last year. Something to do with Katara, the blue eyed girl from Aang’s group that gave him a death stare all throughout the class. He then thinks about her brother, who decided to blabber to him after AP Stats. He was a bit too tired to recognize he was doing it, but he smirked a little as he reflected on that conversation with Sokka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oo foreshadowing woo! Yeah I’m still figuring out my style but I like ending on shorter POVs, mostly Zuko POVs since he's kinda the main character? There really is no main character, he just so happens to be the one with the most plot. Also sandwiching a short POV in between longer POVs is something I like. This episode is mostly Water Tribe sibling focused. I should probably figure out last names for the characters, since I’ve elected to ignore them, until now. I also gotta figure out the name for the high school. Thinking of Oma High School, and then the middle school is Shu Middle School. Should probably also figure the timeline of the first few chapters and all the events I have planned. 
> 
> If you have thoughts or ideas I will gladly take them. Also I’m thinking of putting random fun facts about the characters in these notes because I have a whole outline full of random facts that I would love to share. And leave kudos if you enjoy, they fuel me to build my empire. Thanks for reading loves!
> 
> -DK


	3. Life Is Either a Soap Opera or a Teen Sitcom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Zuko often felt as if he lived in a soap opera. His life is awful, and everything that could go wrong goes wrong. Meanwhile Aang and his group seem to be living in a teen sitcom. He could hear the laugh track as they joyfully poked fun at each other.”
> 
> More chaos ensues as Katara gets more pissed, Sokka gets more tired, and Suki just watches exasperatedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to figure out what I should name this fic, since I changed "And they were theater kids" since that's now the name of the series. Anyway, sorry this part is so late. Was planning on posting it on the 8th but then my school went "fuck you" to me and my beta, Naomi, so she could only finish it as of Friday. 
> 
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dk-is-gay)
> 
> [My Beta's Account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taeiliebby/pseuds/taeiliebby)

Sokka woke up and was ready to befriend the boy and launch his plan! He sat up and--

“Ouch!” He hit his head on Katara’s foot.

“Ahh, Sokka!” Katara woke up startled, with some pain in her voice as she screamed her brother’s name. She realized what had happened and took a deep breath. “Sorry, guess I managed to sleep sideways.”

“It’s fine, just not how I expected to wake up.”

“Well at least we’re both wide awake now!”

“Yay, goodie.” Sokka says unenthusiastically, before rising out his bed and stretching, feeling the morning glow bask on him. It was nice and warm, and he absolutely hated it. “Katara, you left the blinds open.”

“Well unlike you, I’m not a hermit who wants to shut out all natural light.” Katara climbed down, also stretching.

“I don’t like the idea of people being able to see into our bedroom.” Looking back at his sister. Her hair was all frizzy and sticking up, and he wanted to chuckle at it but knew he would be kicked halfway to Neptune if he did that.

“That’s your stupid paranoia talking.” She rubbed her eyes and went to exit the room.

“Well I live in a state of constant fear so might as well channel it into something useful.” He said, almost meaning it as a joke despite him knowing it might not be.

The two teens left the room and made themselves breakfast. Katara made herself a nice English muffin with jelly and Sokka made himself some cereal. After eating, Katara went to the bathroom while Sokka got dressed, putting on a blue hoodie and black sweatpants. Then they switched off.

They finished off by peeking into their dad’s room and saying goodbye before starting their trek to school.

Katara that day was wearing a tye-dye blue shirt with jean shorts, and her signature blue choker with a locket. Sokka gave her a devilish smirk and decided to continue laying out the plan. “So, little sis, here’s the plan. You sit and just don’t look miserable and angry.” She let out an angry huff and a stare that meant plausible death for Sokka but didn’t interrupt him. “And I’ll work my natural Sokka charm.”

“Spirits, I mean I don’t like Zuko, but I hope he does beat you up for this.”

“Why so pessimistic, if you want stuff done, you gotta get down and dirty and do it yourself.”

“Right, right, older brother knowledge. I’m sorry I just think that you're way overestimating yourself.” That broke through to Sokka. He always thought he was overestimating himself, but the relief and dread that comes when someone finally admits it is heavy and light. Of course, now that he had confirmed it he was just going to push himself harder.

“I always overestimate myself. But it only makes myself work harder. Maybe you have to stop underestimating and start overestimating yourself.”

Katara’s face turned completely red, and she looked like she was actually ready to kill him. “I estimate myself just fine Sokka!” She yelled at him before storming ahead of him in a fit of rage that he could barely keep up with her.

Katara couldn’t believe Sokka. She was already stressed from the idea that Aang is walking into fire and then Sokka’s drowning on her left as she’s currently being turned to stone watching their idiocy. SPIRITS! She could use a nice large xanax, preferably one big enough to crack Zuko’s skull open. So much for being serene and graceful as a wave like Gran Gran always said, she was big and fucking angry like a tsunami and she didn’t know how to calm down.

“Hey Katara, hey Sokka!” And there’s the cheery little bastard. Aang gleefully skipped along to them, and both of the siblings ignored him, instead walking faster. Aang skipped faster, almost tripping over his shoelace. “Guys wait, I need to tie my shoe!” Nope, those are the aglets of someone about to go to heaven, rip Aang.

“What is up with you two today? Is this still about Zuko?” Aang was barely keeping up, given his short legs, being a half foot shorter than the two siblings. “Come on, he’s not a bad guy! He's just misunderstood.”

Sokka shot Katara a grin and she felt her blood boil further, because deception might’ve been worse than straight up anger. “Really, Aang? Well, I might just have to try and befriend him and see for myself then.”

“Thank you! At least you’re accepting Sokka.” That’s it. She didn’t need her brother and her best friend anymore, time to throw them into oncoming traffic. She stormed ahead, muting out their voices until she finally realized she was at school. They walked to their normal picnic table, and she got lost in her rage. Zuko walked up and started talking to Aang and she could just hear Azula’s overbearing voice.

“Katara, you look like an absolute mess. No wonder you completely dropped almost everything the second I decided not to be your friend. Your anger is unbearable.” She heard Azula’s annoying voice berate her. She could never like Zuko because of Azula.

“Katara, Katara, Katara…” Azula’s voice slowly faded as she realized Suki had been lightly shaking her, clearly concerned. The girls light green, blue, and grey eyes pierced through Katara’s rage fueled haze, with a look of concern. “Are you okay?”

Katara took a huff of breath and grabbed Suki’s wrist, dragging her to the nearest bathroom. “Girl talk. Now.”

Sokka watched his sister pull his ex off to the bathroom, as he talked to Zuko and Aang (and Toph, though she seemed to be out of it).

Aang was sharing some anecdotes about band. “I mean we were all running on like 2 hours of sleep, and I was running on like 5 different types of energy drinks.”

“I feel that. I’m currently only running on 3 hours of sleep and three cups of coffee.” Zuko sympathized. Sokka wrote down ‘Lack of sleep’ in his mental notebook.

“Tui, Katara would actually knock me out herself if I pulled bullshit like that. Of course I still do, but only sometimes and with extra care.” Sokka added, making sure to actually seem present in the conversation.

“By the way, does your sister hate me or something? Like, she keeps giving me looks like she’s planning my murder.” Zuko asked Sokka, catching him off guard. Don’t ruin the plan, don’t ruin the plan.

“Oh no, she hates your sister, and by extension you.” Sokka had no idea why he was telling him this, but he can work it into the plan.

“Oh, Katara will come around. She always does!” Aang said with his normal jovial attitude.

“Oh, you’re only saying that because you love her, twinkletoes.” They had pretty much forgotten Toph was there when she spoke up, getting shocked looks from all 3 boys.

“I do not have a crush on her!” Aang’s entire face went pink.

“Dude you have a crush on my sister?! Like, I’m fine with it, you’ll be better than her last boyfriend, BUT DUDE WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!” Sokka forgot the plan, now full of confusion.

“Because I don’t have a crush on her!” Meanwhile Zuko was flustered and - was he… was he giggling? Could it be an evil laugh? It seemed genuine, from the soft feeling Sokka got when he heard it.

“Ugh, you boys are so bad with your feelings, I should’ve left with Suki and Katara when I had the chance.” Toph kicked a small pebble at Sokka’s shin, hitting, but it didn’t hurt.

“By the way, where did they go?” Zuko asked. The three boys and Toph went silent and heard a faint sound of yelling.

“Ugh I could punch a hole through this entire school Suki!” Katara said, kicking the toilet paper holder. Katara had pulled Suki into the nearest big stall that wasn’t occupied by stoners, vapers, or both. She had then continued to ramble and yell for the next few minutes.

“Is this still about Zuko?” Suki awkwardly sat on the sink, finally saying something after all these minutes, looking with confusion at Katara. Katara stood there, realizing she had absolutely no idea who she was mad at anymore. Zuko was the obvious one, but Aang and Sokka were also pissing her off.

“Yes, but not only him!” Katara was about to rant to all high hell. “Both Aang and Sokka are being absolutely annoying! I don’t want to curse, but I’m on the edge!”

“You can curse, Katara, it's perfectly normal.” Suki had only heard Katara curse a few times, and Katara wasn’t sure that it was a good idea, but tried anyway.

“F-f-fu-” Katara started, wincing as if it were painful to get out.

“What’s wrong?” Suki cocked an eyebrow, with a slight amusement in her voice.

“I’m nervous.” Katara admitted, and Suki’s light chuckle made her go off. “What if someone comes in?! Like Aang or Sokka, they’ll never let me live it down!”

“Well, you’ll never know unless you try.” Katara was about to argue back when they had heard footsteps coming in. They both went silent as they waited to see who it was.

Someone tried to open the stall door, in that annoying teenage way where they loudly shake it and always scare the shit out of the person inside. Katara took a peak at the shoes. There were black boots that were almost covered by a black skirt, off-white sandals with a pink ankle bracelet, and red almost heels. She had a feeling she knew who was behind those shoes, her blood boiling with the circumstance, but she stayed silent, until a familiar voice perked up.

“God damn it. Of course someone is in this stall.” Azula says, her voice like a bunch of daggers.

“We can always go to one of the other bathrooms.” A cheery voice that was quite strange when set against Azula’s sharpness chimed in. That had to be Ty Lee.

“It’s not like the stoners will listen.” An almost deadpan voice added, belonging to Mai.

“Ugh, we’ll just find somewhere else private to talk. Come on.” The three shoes turned and left. Katara listened to their steps until she couldn’t hear them anymore. She still waited about a minute before making a noise.

She didn’t realize she was holding her breath, and took a large breath in and turned to Suki, red from holding both her breath and anger. “What did I say fucking say?!” Suki started cracking up, and Katara threw her hand over her mouth.

“Oh, Katara, I’m sorry but that is the funniest damn thing you’ve ever done.” Suki said, laughing while talking.

Katara stared at Suki as she slowly calmed down and tried to catch her breath. “Okay, so Zuko, Sokka and Aang are the problem, right?”

“Yes!” Katara knew what Suki was trying to do, but her patience was completely dissipated. She hated when she got like this. It went against everything in her, but here she was, yelling at Suki, her most level headed friend.

“And why is that?” Suki stated calmly. She had always been good at conflict resolution. Says she gets it from her ma.

“Well Zuko is obvious, Aang too, and Sokka is doing that thing he does when he needs meaning in his life where he starts doing crazy meticulous things to prove his worth to live.”

“Aww, I know that gets hard to deal with. But I’m afraid we both know that we just have to let it run its course.” Katara sighed. She was right. Sokka had been doing that since he was 11, and it usually just involved tasks like improving a skill, asking someone out, 100 percenting a video game, or in this case, sabotage. A menial task that he usually devoted all his time to. It was quite annoying, but whatever he needed to cope. At least he coped.

“I know. I know.” Katara felt her anger fall away, turning into some calm sorrow. She knew the second she went back outside to her friends the calm would go away and her rage would rise back up.

“Should we go back outside?” Suki said in a quieter voice, with a light friendly smile.

“No, can we stay in here until first period starts?” Katara shyly asked. Suki gave an understanding nod.

“Of course, can I play some music?” Suki held out her phone and Katara gave her a nod in return

Sokka worried a little when Katara never returned from the bathroom, but knew she was with Suki, and he knew he could trust Suki. He couldn’t wait to give Katara the intel he had gotten. Mostly useless intel, but intel. He learnt a little about Zuko’s other family, such as a cousin and uncle, and also his mom. No mentions of Azula or his father, which could mean they’re planning… Yes, maybe he’s bad like Azula. Though he found himself doubting that from the way he talked. He only scarcely laughed or smiled. It was nice when he did. Probably evil smiles and laughs that crack through the nice facade but it’s whatever.

The bell rang and they all left to go. Sokka relayed the conversation in his mind, but he seemed to be at a roadblock. He wasn’t exactly frustrated with it, because that meant more spy work for him. He flinched when Suki suddenly appeared next to him, simultaneously crashing his train of thought.

“Sokka! How are we doing today?” She said with a slight southern charm, her chestnut hair tied up halfway,and was wearing a green flannel over a black crop top and jeans. She had a sweet smile and Sokka knew whatever she and Katara had talked about made her concerned.

He sighed and said, “Whatever conversation you and Katara had is not true, I’m doing absolutely fine.”

“Dude, I’ve known you for…” She took a pause to count on her fingers. “Almost 7 years. And I dated you for one of those. You can’t hide shit from me.” She was always more blunt with him than the others.

“Suki, I’m perfectly fine.” Sokka lied through his teeth. She gave him a look that meant she saw right through his bullshit.

“Sokka…” She gave him a look that meant she was gonna whoop his ass if he didn’t tell the truth. He wouldn’t give up that easily, and started to speed walk.

“Whelp, I gotta get to my class!” Suki started to jog up to him. Spirits, was she fast. Her athletic and tall body made it so she was quickly gaining on him.

“Sokka we’re in the same first period! This is so stupid!” She said, as he started to break into a sprint.

“Well at least it will delay my death!” He accidentally ran into someone and apologized without stopping. He was now in full run, and so was Suki.

“Sokka, we’re gonna get in troub-” Right on queue, Zhao stood at the end of the hallway they were dashing through. Sokka quickly halted himself, only a few seconds from collision. Suki stopped herself right next to him.

“Ah, Mr. Zhao, what a surprise-” He said, awkwardly trying to save himself.

“It’s Dr. Zhao.” Zhao said, cutting Sokka off with an air of arrogance. His ugly ass sideburns that looked like two hedgehogs hot glued to his face were extra ugly today, combined with a fancy suit and red tie.

“Dr.Zhao, it’s so great to see you!” Suki said, with a big grin.

“Bushida, Ukiuk, how many times must I tell you you can’t run in the halls?” He referred to them by last name which only meant one thing: they were royally fucked.

“It's Bushida Du Doi and this isn’t elementary school. Kids run through these halls all the time, no trouble.” Suki began to go on the defensive, and Sokka felt himself get sick. They were probably going back to the principal’s office.

“Well those kids don’t get caught.” As he said that, a group of freshmen zoomed past. Yep, those kids totally don’t get caught. There was definitely nothing unfair about how they get in trouble more often than other kids.

“Okay, Professor Snape. Totally nothing like hatred getting in the way of rational thought here.” Suki probably didn’t realize that she wasn’t thinking rationally either.

“Oh. Well I hope I regain my rational thought while you two go to the principal’s office. Go on now.” Suki scowled at him before grabbing Sokka’s arm and started pulling him towards the principal’s office.

“Zhao, what is going on here?” A voice came from behind them, and they stopped and turned around. Standing there was Professor Piandao, their English teacher and the fencing team coach. His long hair was tied back in a ponytail, and his glasses helped the glare he was giving Zhao.

“These fools were running through the hallway.” Zhao said, voice oozing with anger and his usual snobiness.

“Well, those fools have poetry projects due today, they don’t have time to go to the principal’s office for something as petty as running in the halls.”

“Ugh, fine, but this is a warning.” Suki and Sokka shuffled over to Piandao as Zhao walked off, slightly stomping. Sokka felt all the tension fly away from his body like a seagull who just got scared off by a little kid at the beach.

“Now, why were you two running?” Piandao looked between the two of them.

“Suki was planning my murder.”

“Sokka was overreacting.” They said at the same time. Piandao rubbed his temples.

“Okay, well, just get in class.”

“Wait do we actually have a poetry project due?”

“No, but if you don’t get in class I might just have to assign one.”

“Right, thanks Professor Piandao.”

“No problem.” Suki and Sokka slipped into class, and Suki seemingly forgot about the whole reason they started running in the first place, and Sokka was relieved. Because she was right, he was not exactly okay, but he didn’t need his friend treating him like a hurt puppy.

Suki knew that Sokka wasn’t feeling okay, and that he wouldn’t let her help. Sokka had been like this since they met in 4th grade. He was stubborn and she knew this was never good for him. He would soon spiral, unless she could stop him. Of course, Sokka's avoidance of her was annoying. How she ever dated him was a question she didn’t know the answer to. It was middle school, they were young, and they dated.

She shuffled off to Debate, being mad that Sokka completely ducked out before she could talk to him. She shuffled through her backpack before producing her phone. She scrolled down to a group chat with Katara and Aang.

kyoshi’s warrior  
im going to kill sokka next time i see him

kit kat(ara)  
Great, now we’re both mad at him.

no talk, im aangy  
What did he do😕?

  
kyoshi’s warrior  
almost got me and him sent to the  
principal’s office. thank god piandao  
intervened

kit kat(ara)  
Let me guess… Zhao?

kyoshi’s warrior  
yes, as usual

no talk, im aangy  
Wait but why is Katara mad at him?

kyoshi's warrior  
sokka’s whole role in the zuko  
scenario

  
no talk, im aangy  
Really? You’re still on that Katara😐?

kit kat(ara)  
Yes! You weren’t here last year Aang,  
you can’t possibly know how terrible  
Azula truly is.

no talk, im aangy  
I was still your friend, even if I was still  
in middle school😟.

kit kat(ara)  
Yes, but you only heard about it

Suki put her phone away, not in the mood for the melodramatics Katara and Aang were putting on. Anyway, she was almost to her class. God, her friends were a living soap opera

Zuko often felt as if he was a living soap opera. His life was awful, and everything that could go wrong would go wrong. Meanwhile Aang and his group seemed to be living in a teen sitcom. He could practically hear the laugh track as they joyfully poked fun at each other. The meaningless drama that boiled between them. It was all kid stuff. Kid stuff he wished he could be a part of. He wished that he wasn’t sad, he wished he could’ve had a normal childhood like the rest of them. He then remembered the scars on Aang’s body. Maybe he shouldn’t assume things.

Sokka walked into class, seemingly out of breath. He was sweaty, a few of his hairs out of place and sticking to his forehead, and he took a seat right next to Zuko, plopping his head down on the desk to help himself cool off.

“Are you feeling alright?” Zuko asked with genuine concern.

“Yeah, I just ran here.” Sokka said, shifting his face so it was sideways on the table.

“Why? You’re five minutes early.”

“I never said I was running to be on time.” Sokka lifted his head off from the table with this statement. He then started ruffling through his bag.

“Why else would you be running?”

“So Suki doesn’t skin me alive.”He said, producing a water bottle that he started drinking from.

“Ah, tough love with your girlfriend?” Zuko had seen the way Sokka and Suki interact, they had to be a couple. But by the way Sokka reacted, spitting out all his water back into his water bottle and chuckling, Zuko guessed he was wrong. “Oh, so you’re not dating?”

“We dated back in like the 7th grade.” Sokka said, trying to stifle his laughter.

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, no, it's fine. Suki would’ve cackled at that. But we’re more like brother and sister. She’s one of my best friends. And dating her, while enjoyable at the time because it was during middle school and everything else was going to shit, it’s a crazy idea now.” Sokka chuckled at this, likely reminiscing. “Yeah, middle school dating is stupid as fuck.”

Zuko had to agree. He remembered that poor girl he went on one date with in eighth grade, and cringed. “I mean middle schoolers are basically toddlers.”

“I would say same with freshies, but I don’t think I can say that given Toph would murder me and Aang is more mature than I will ever be.”

“Really? Aang seems very childlike.”

“Yeah, he’s very optimistic, which can be excused as childish.” Sokka’s lips turned slightly downward. “Kinda awful how the world treats optimism as immaturity, when seeing the best in people is more mature than just assuming everything is awful.” Zuko was once again shocked by Sokka’s extremely intelligent observation. “I don’t think I could ever be as optimistic as Aang.” He seemed extremely upset by that, and Zuko could relate.

“I don’t think I could either. It’s just easier to assume the worst in people.” They both exchanged frowns before Zuko shot him a small smile. “I guess that’s what’s going on with your sister? Probably assuming that the reason he wanted to befriend me was pure naivety, when I actually think it’s a sign of emotional intelligence that most adults don’t even have.” A blast of nostalgia hits Zuko, remembering the kindly man who Zuko hadn’t seen in months. “It’s the kind of level of emotional intelligence my uncle has.”

“Yeah…” Sokka seemed ready to add something but the bell rang and class started so he couldn’t. But he had helped Zuko see something. He had kept on thinking that Aang was playing a cruel joke on him by trying to befriend him, but he had then realized, with Sokka’s thoughtful words, that Aang just saw past the scar, the sister, the record, the mask, and saw Zuko. At this point Zuko had no idea what he was like anymore, but Aang knew, and Aang could tell there was something worth it in there.

He wanted to tell the other boy -who had given him super solid advice twice in a row - thank you, or validate how smart he was, but instead he just sat there, attempting to take notes.

Shit, shit, shit. Sokka had finally fucking realized that he can’t go on plotting against Zuko. After that conversation? Never, not in a million years. Sokka had never given up on something this easily, but when he gave up on sabotaging Zuko, he felt instant relief. Like he knew it was wrong before he even started it.

After AP Stats, he made his way over to AP Psych, and was pulling out his phone to text Katara when she stormed past him, clearly not in the mood. So instead he texted Suki.

Suki had pulled out her phone for study hall, since she needed it to check what work she needed to do, to play music while she did the work, and to scroll through social media whenever she got bored.She opted to ignore whatever bomb had detonated in her chat with Aang and Katara, but got a text from Sokka. She almost ignored it but what he said had shocked her to her core.

socks-a  
hey sukes

  
socks-a  
yo do you know tf is up with my sister  
rn? ne way, since i dont want to  
deal with her wrath imma tell u this  
instead

  
socks-a  
ive decided to abandon the plan

kyoshi’s warrior  
what?

  
kyoshi’s warrior  
this is an undocumented phenomenon

  
kyoshi’s warrior  
sokka what caused this amazing sensation

  
socks-a  
i talked with the dude and like, he  
made a really good point. zukos actually  
pretty cool.

  
socks-a  
better go now, don’t want the teacher to  
take my phone away, like an asshole

Suki couldn’t believe her eyes. Her jaw must’ve broken from how far it dropped. She might’ve been teasing about it over text, but holy shit. Sokka actually scrapped a plan he was dead set on. She could only wonder what they could’ve talked about for Sokka’s rapid change in attitude. Suki was in a state of bewilderment beyond all relief. 

She felt a smile creep on her face. A genuine smile. Sokka let go of something. She switched onto Spotify and turned on her playlist, letting the mid-2000s pop song flow through her ears,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oo there are some juicy things in here!
> 
> You got everything, foreshadowing, shipping, backstory, AND ME BEING PHILOSOPHICAL AT MIDNIGHT FOR NO REASON! Like I was having some serious writer’s block for the first half of this chapter but the rest came through like a breeze. Also I really hated writing the text stuff but I also enjoyed it. The contact names will change based on perspective. The ones you saw in this one were purely Suki. 
> 
> Other examples of other characters contact names are: Suki is suklear bomb in Sokka’s phone and will mostly be puns like in Suki’s, Katara uses everyone’s names normally but with emojis, and Toph and Aang’s will probably be based off of nicknames from the show. I only know Suki’s name in Sokka’s phone because the chat was originally from Sokka’s perspective but I changed it
> 
> If you have any questions or comments leave them down below! Also leave kudos, they give me ounces of joy in my wilting miserable life. Thanks for reading loves!
> 
> -DK


End file.
